Tag: Guest Post

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Guest Post: Intern Meets Superconference

Hi Everyone!

My name is Alison and I’m happy to introduce myself as Tundra’s new intern. I’m four weeks in and still excited to come into work to find myself surrounded by so many amazing children books! The walls here echo with stories….

Last week I had the opportunity to attend the OLA Superconference at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre on February 4th and 5th and help out at the Tundra stand. It was a great exhibition and an opportunity to get a peek at what’s new and exciting in the publishing world. It was also nice to meet so many friendly librarians and people who work so hard at getting the right books into the hands of the right kids!

OLA - the colourful worlds of publishers and libraries collide!

We had a lot of traffic at the Tundra booth for the author book signings. Marthe Jocelyn, Susin Nielsen, Heather Hartt-Sussman, Cyndi Sand-Eveland, Rina Singh, Farida Zaman, Monica Kulling, Ed Butts, and Christopher Moore signed copies of their latest Tundra books and answered questions about their stories and the inspiration behind them. (There were several requests for signed copies of Monica Kulling’s Merci Mister Dash! to be addressed to special friends of the canine persuasion, of which I’m sure Mister Dash would approve.)

I had created little signs announcing the time slots for the author signings. Of course, as a good little intern should, I made sure to double-check the spelling of all of the author’s names. But alas, there was one that slipped through, and I was quite embarrassed to realize at the last-minute that I had spelled Susin Nielsen’s name as “Susan.” Unfortunately, I’m sure she gets that a lot! I quickly turned that “a” into an “i” with a black marker but the mistake was pretty glaringly obvious (even little mistakes are scary when you’re an intern and you’re continually trying to prove your competence!). But, when Susin came around to sign Dear George Clooney, she was very sweet and not at all annoyed about it, and we joked that the now-massive “i” was done on purpose to remind others not to make the likely-common mistake. Oops!

Ed Butts signing copies of Shipwrecks, Monsters, and Mysteries of the Great Lakes

On Friday afternoon, the seventh annual CANSCAIP Mass Book Launch was held at the Expo. Twenty authors and illustrators went on stage to give pretty entertaining “infomercials” and insights into their latest titles. It was interesting to see the wide range of personalities going into the creation of current Canadian children books. From Tundra, Marthe Jocelyn (Folly), Richard Scrimger (Me & Death), Farida Zaman (Nearly Nonsense), and Veronika Martenova Charles (Easy-to-Read Wonder Tales), each did an excellent job giving a teaser snapshot of their books and describing what makes them relevant for young readers.

Marthe Jocelyn reading an excerpt from Folly at the CANSCAIP Mass Book Launch

This week Tundra’s going to another conference – Reading for the Love of It – February 10th and 11th at the Sheraton Centre. I’m looking forward to interacting with another incredibly important part of the kids + books equation: the teachers!

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Guest Post: Bullying Awareness Week

Please welcome today’s guest blogger, Bird Child author, Nan Forler! As a mother and teacher, she encourages her students and her own children to speak out against injustice, both in the schoolyard and in the global community.

Nan Forler: November 15th – 19th has been designated as Bullying Awareness Week, in Canada and other countries around the world.  In the next week, I will visit many schools to spread the message of Bird Child, the message of standing up for a friend in the schoolyard, of speaking out against injustice.

Since the release of Bird Child, I have become aware of more and more issues related to bullying.  Parents and children tell me their stories; friends send me links; school boards plan huge initiatives to combat bullying.

Bullying has always been with us.  We used to think it was a rite of passage – just a part of growing up.  As our society evolves, we are seeing bullying for what it is: socially deviant behaviour that can have devastating effects on the well-being of our children.

So often, we focus on the bully and the victim, or target, in a bullying situation, but we forget the other essential character in the scene: the bystander.  As a teacher, I know the power of the bystander on the playground.  As most bullying happens in a manner that is hidden from adults, we need to equip our children in how to be effective bystanders, in order to reduce the impact of bullying incidents.

In my school presentations, I talk about the two choices a bystander can make: do nothing or act.  I emphasize the point that doing nothing actually gives the bully more power.  Every time we stand and watch and do nothing, the bully becomes bigger and more powerful.

So what can we guide our kids to do?  Standing up to a bully takes a great deal of courage.  Ask your child about the kids who are left out at school, the kids who are alone during recess, who are treated unkindly.  Ask about their own feelings when witnessing bullying.  Being a bystander can bring on anxiety and fear as well as lowering self-esteem.  Your child may feel guilty or ashamed for doing nothing and worried about being the next victim.  Open up the discussion and gently guide your child in coming up with a solution.  You can even role-play, or give your child a rehearsed response to say to a classmate or friend who bullies, such as “That’s not fair,” or “How would you feel if that was you?”  Encourage your child to discuss the situation with the teacher.  Help your child generate ways to make the classmate feel included.

Kids who learn to stand up against injustice in the schoolyard are more likely to speak out against injustice in the future, whether it be in the workplace, the community, or the global society.   Sometimes it just takes one voice, the voice of a child, to bring hope to many.

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Guest Post: Laura Robinson

A continuation from Laura Robinson’s previous guest post, where she shared her thoughts about the On the move in the community! conference and told us she that would be riding in the Tour la Nuit.

Laura Robinson: What could be more fun then over 9,000 cyclists taking over downtown Montreal on a Friday evening? I met our gracious hosts from Velo Quebec at the most amazing Velo Maison, a Victorian rambling house that has been added to and added to as this non-profit organization continues to grow. Now with 80 full-time staff and another 30 temporary to help with the organization of un Tour la Nuit and Tour de I’ile on the first weekend of June the house vibrates with the energy of people who love to ride, and/or are simply committed to a culture where bicycles count.

I arrived around 5:30 on Friday evening after a short tour up Mount Royale and a “negotiated” ride on Montreal’s cycling lanes. The lanes are fashioned in a way that has the coming and going cyclists on the same side of the street on a somewhat narrow lane, with a yellow line between them. The success of Montreal’s cycling campaign is obvious as hundreds of cyclists going in different directions vie for a narrow slice of the pavement. But I made it along rue Rachel to find hundreds more cyclists already preparing for a ride that started three hours later.

Velo Maison offers a store and cafe downstairs so after a tour of the travel office and the place which is the heart of cycling in Quebec–which includes the ever expanding second and third stories, as well as the new patio off to the side, we settled into fabulous fresh food and conversation. Journalists from New York, Toronto and Seattle attended, along with CEO of Cycle New York. I think the Americans decided to move to Montreal by the time the outdoor cafe meal had ended and we were all straddling our saddles.

The start of the festival was a blast. Volunteers had dressed up in all kinds of great get-ups, music blasted, cyclists had decorated bikes like we were all ten years old again and bike cops and motorcycle cops led the way.

Riding through the neighbourhoods of Montreal as the sun sets behind Mount Royale and neighbourhoods come out to cheer us on is an experience never to be forgotten. Before I knew it the 20 km were over and I rode back to my hotel, dodging through festive summer streets as only Montreal can deliver.

Tundra Books: That’s not all, Laura Robinson celebrated the launch of Cyclist BikeList with Octopus Books two days later! Here are some event photos, posted with permission and courtesy of Tim Bouma:

Phoenix, Laura Robison, Yannick, and Noah!

Noah on his unicycle reading Cyclist BikeList! Now that takes skills! Sarah and her daughter Breanna are sharing a joke in the background. Breanna is a member of the Anishinaabe Racers that Laura Robinson coaches.

Sarah (Breanna’s mother) juggling.

Many thanks to Steve and his great team at Octopus Books! They were up against dark skies, rain clouds, and cold temperatures, but the kids who came had a fun time.

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Guest Post: Laura Robinson

Laura Robinson, author of Cyclist BikeList: The Book for Every Rider, attended On the move in the community! in Montreal. Here are some of her thoughts after the conference.

Laura Robinson: Imagine a place where all planning decisions put the right of children to live in a safe place where it was easy to ride their bikes, run around or skateboard first. Where doing business was not more important than having fun. Impossible? Traffic engineer Leah Bisutti from Burlington, Ontario says that is how we must design planning guidelines. Bisutti was speaking at a panel entitled, “Safe Routes to School-Canada’s Best Practices” along with her colleague Jennifer Jenkins, who is a public health nurse with the City of Burlington, at the “On the Move in the Community” conference in Montreal on June 3, 2010.

Velo Quebec organized the conference. They are an amazing non-profit cycling advocacy organization that employs 80 full-time staff and another 30 building up to this conference and their spectacular Tour la Nuit, which I am riding in tonight, and the legendary Tour de l’ille, which happens on Saturday, June 5 when tens of thousands of cyclists will converge on the city and ride to their heart’s delight.

Tour de l’Ille started in 1985 with 3,500 cyclists braving cool, rainy weather. In 2009, when they celebrated their 25th anniversary, 35,000 came out! Tour la Nuit was initiated in 1999. Last year they had 13,000. Of course because this is Montreal, a festival is a real festival. I will report on what the start and finish areas are like, but I know one thing for sure-this isn’t a race-but a super fun time on a bike.

Things were a little more serious yesterday when experts like Leah Bisutti and Jennifer Jenkins talked about what it takes to get kids out of their parent’s cars and onto bikes or sidewalks. The weird thing is, every survey of kids shows that they LOVE riding their bikes. It is decisions by adults-parents and politicians-who decide life outside of the confines of the automobile is just too dangerous. How ironic given that it is the automobile that makes going to school far more dangerous than it has to be for children. Experts from across Canada and Europe showed how much safer the environment is, not to mention cleaner, when parents DO NOT DRIVE THEIR CHILDREN TO SCHOOL. Instead, parents and Safe Routes to School advocates, along with kids do a “walkabout” in their neighbourhood and decide what needs to be fixed (more signs that say kids are around, more crossing guards, signage that shows kids where the least car infested streets are, lower speed limits and traffic calming devices), and then they plan their walking school bus. Everyone has a blast and arrives at school ready to learn. Every study completed recently shows that kids learn better after engaging in cardio-respiratory exercise. But even if this does happen, riding a bike is a blast, and so is walking to school with friends and that is reason enough to do either activity.

The Leah and Jennifer team are going to work on getting kids on bikes for transportation to school for next year. So leave the car at home whether you are ensuring a child gets to school or if you are on your way too work or play. Get your running shoes out or your bike or both and have a blast.

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Guest Post: Nan Forler

Nan Forler, author of Bird Child, was invited to participate in gritLIT 2010. Here, she recaps her adventures in Hamilton for the festival and a reading at a school she used to teach in. Sounds like she had a busy (but fun) week! Photos courtesy of Nan Forler.

Nan Forler: I have recently returned from two days of readings at inner-city schools: the first two as part of the Hamilton GritLit Literary Festival, and the second at a school Read-a-thon in Kitchener.

You can feel the spirit when you walk into these inner-city schools. There is a joy among the kids, a sense of belonging in a place where they are free to be themselves. The teachers seem to have a palpable love of the school and the sense of humour needed to get through each day.

I drive through the fog and rain to Earl Kitchener School, where Lindsay Hodder, the children’s event coordinator for GritLit, welcomes me at the door. She has everything meticulously arranged and ready to go. We wander up and down stairs and through old brick corridors, with a history and character you don’t find in the “leafy green schools,” as those of us who teach in poorer neighbourhoods refer to the fancy new buildings in suburbia. The audience is much larger than planned, but the students are wonderfully attentive and eager to participate, the teachers supportive and welcoming. Sincere thank yous as we pack up to leave.

That afternoon, I drive past Hess Street School twice, questioning my GPS that insists I have arrived at my destination. The school is tucked between factories and row houses, with no parking for me, my guitar, and my gear in the pouring rain.

Hess Street School is 75% ESL students, the literacy teacher tells us. “You’ll love these kids,” she adds. And who wouldn’t? The students file in, a United Nations of faces, the future of Canada in front of me. With every question, a hundred hands of varying shades shoot up, some students so eager to answer, they can barely hold it in. During the reading, there is complete silence, until the oohs and awes of the final image, the huge snow castle filling the wall of their gymnasium, then appreciative applause.

Afterwards, the students run towards me, wanting to strum my guitar, page through the book, talk to me. A little boy picks up a tiny feather left behind and looks up at me. “You can have that if you’d like,” I tell him. He clutches it in his hand and smiles. I sit down for a photo and the students fight to sit close to me, to hold the book, to put their arms around me. In the hall afterwards, they hug me as they pass, then continue walking. They shout thank you and clap and cheer from the school yard as we leave. One boy bolts towards us and says in careful English, “Thank you for reading your book, Bird Child, to our school, Nan Forler.”

The following morning I am off to my beloved St. Bernadette, a school close to downtown Kitchener, where I taught for 3 years. I am exhausted and fighting off a migraine and a cold but it feels like I am coming home. I know this school, these kids, this staff. I know the challenges that come from teaching here, that go far beyond curriculum, that have to do with helping to raise up children in spite of the life they have been handed. I understand when the principal tells me, her eyes filled with tears, that yesterday was a heart-breaking day.

Again, I feel the love of appreciative kids. “You the best story, Ms Forler,” one girl tells me, pointedly.

I hope these experiences pass on the love of literacy to these kids. I am thankful that the Hamilton GritLit Festival chose these schools as the audience for this story, that the teachers and parents at St. Bernadette chose a Read-a-thon for the school fundraiser.

Standing up for kids like these, being a voice for those who are voiceless, passing on a love of literacy, bringing about justice – this is the message of Bird Child. This is what it’s all about.

Tundra Book Group